Car-fender.



No. 678,761. Patented luly I6, been. L. P. PLATT & F. WARGA.

CAB FENDER.

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W/T NE SSE 8 LAXVRENCE I. PLATT AND FRANK \VARGA, OF HASTINGS, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-FENDER,

-ESIFICJEION forming part of Letters Patent No. 678,? 61 dated July 16, 1901.

Application filed October 18, 1900. Serial No, 33,477- (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, LAWRENCE P. PLATT and FRANK WARGA, of Hastings, in the county of Gambria and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oar-Fenders, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention is in the nature of a carfender designed to prevent injury or loss of life to any person coming in contact with the car in front of the same; and it consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts designed with reference to simplicity, strength, durability, and cheapness, the same being automatic in action and adapted to be conveniently attached to and detached from any car and transferred quickly from one end to the other when the direction of the car is reversed.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the front end of the car with our fender applied thereto; and Fig. 2 is a view of the framework of the fender, showing its live roller and its actuating driving devices.

In the drawings, Arepresents any ordinary street-car, and B is our fender. The fender has a framework composed of a metal rod or pipe bent, as shown in Fig. 2, to form two parallel horizontal branches 1 1, bent upwardly at their rear ends at 2 2 for a short distance, then bentinwardly and horizontally toward each other at 3 3, and thence extended rearwardly in closely-approximating parallel members at 4, terminating at the rear in an eye 5, adapted to receive a vertical bolt 0, having a large head on its lower end on the lower side of the eye, by which thefender is connected to the car about a vertical axis, so that the fender is pushed ahead of the car, but is free to swing to right or left in turning curves.

At the forward ends of the side branches 1 1 of the frame there are rigidly attached broad vertical plates D D, containing journal-bearings for two shafts. One of these shafts E is arranged at the rear edges of the plates D D in a position at right angles to the same and has rigidly attached to it two truckwheels F F, flanged to fit upon and travel along over the rails of the cantrack. In front of the shaft E and in a diagonalor oblique position there is journaled in the plates D D a roller G, three inches, more or less, in diameter. This projects about a foot beyond the railway-tracks on each side, and the surface of this roller is preferably covered with felt, soft rubber, or other elastic cushion to break the shock of contact with the body of a per son on the track and to provide a frictional effect to better lift the body onto the fender. This roller also has elastic buffers or cushions G G on its ends and outside the bearingplates. 'Vl e call said roller a live roller, for the reason that it is rotating constantly, moving in an upward direction in front and having a tendency to lift a person onto the fender. It is rotated by a rigidly-attached bevel gear-wheel g on the shaft of the roller just inside the bearing-plate, receiving motion from another bevel gear-wheel g, rigidly attached to the truck-wheel shaft and meshing with the bevel-gear g. The pressure of the truck-wheels F F on the track-rails thus supplies the power to rotate the roller. This pressure, however, is designed to be increased by apresser-bar on the car, which may be made to act upon the fender to force it down either constantly or at intervals when the fender is to be brought into effective use, as hereinafter described.

Just behind the live roller and parallel with it and close to its upper edge is a crossbar H, connecting the side plates D D and bracing the side members of the framework and also forming a point of attachment for a Woven screen or netting I, which covers the entire upper surface of the'metal framework and has at the angle between the parts 1 and 2 of the framework a cross-bar, of wood or metal, having a curved front edge, as seen in Fig. 1, which both braces laterally the rear portion of the framework and forms a bearing-table K for the presser-bar (hereinbefore referred to) to press upon in holding the fender-trucks more strongly down onto the trackrails. This presser-ba-r consists of a vertical shaft J, arranged in hearings on the dashboard of the car and having a crank a at its upper end and another, I), at its lower end, which latter is provided with a caster-roller c, that presses upon the curved table or platform K.

The shaft J is provided with a helical sprin g L, surrounding it, whose tension serves to IOC press down the caster-roller onto the platform, and the pressure of this spring may be augmented by forcing down the shaft by the hand applied to the crank-handle at the top of the vertical shaft. This may be desirable at times to give greater tractive effect to the truck-wheels and a more positive lifting action to the live roller when the body of a person is about to be picked up.

We are aware that it is not broadly new to rotate a roller at the front end of a car-fender by truck-wheels in the fender itself and that a live roller has been set at an angle when driven from the car-wheels, and we do not claim these features broadly.

Our special arrangement provides a simple and practical form of fender of minim um cost and greatest efficiency which is applicable to all cars and is easily and quickly adjusted to either end of the same by a single person.

Having thus described ourinvention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A car-fender having a truck-wheel shaft with bearing-wheels, and an inclined live roller in front of the same geared directly to the truck-wheel shaft and deriving motion therefrom, a table-surface on the fender, and a presser-bar on the car having a casterwheel at its lower end bearing on said table substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. Acar-fender having a table-surface and a rearwardly-projecting tongue, combined with and pivoted to the car about a vertical belt, a presser-bar on the dashboard of the car bearing on said table-surface, said fender having a live roller in front and a truckwheel shaft geared to and actuating said live roller as described.

3. The combination of a car having a ver-' tical spring-seated shaft on its dashboard with cranks at its upper and lower end and a caster-roller below, and a car-fender connected to the car so as to swing and having a live roller at its front end and truck-wheels, shaft and gears for driving the live roller, and a table-surface on the fender adapted to receive the pressure of the caster-roller substantially as and for the purpose described.

LAWRENCE P. PLATT. FRANK WARGA. Witnesses:

J AMES MELLoN, ED. A. MELLON. 

